Charging cord vs standard USB data cable

Is there a difference between a charging cord for the EVO and a standard USB data cable for our phones? I thought I remember reading a thread about the charging cable being different so charging faster.

I used normal USB cable from my other mobilephone (xperia x8, and Nokia 5230) and my HTC Evo 3D didnt recharging, he was showing that he is recharging but no... recharg was so slow that he wasnt able to recharg battery. After couple of hours from 20% it went to 18% of battery

It's all based on the power drawing from the source. I don't think the cable makes a difference.
As a general rule, USB charges slower than AC.

I understand that trying to charge off the computer will be slower. But what I was asking is the cord which you plug in to the USB wall adapter (that comes with the phone) different from your average micro-usb cord. Because at the end of the day, the cord we get from the factory to charge is a micro-usb cord.

But I think I read somewhere that there is a difference in the pins or something that identify as a charging cable instead of a data cable allowing more power to pass through.

Not sure but my knowledge tells me that when u plug USB cable to poweradapter it just becomes regular charger and phone knows this by higher voltage coming to it...while USB plugged in to laptop or computer less voltage tells the phone and as well as the drivers from computer tells phone that's its USB cable link! Essentially cable is same but the.power adapter in front just converts USB to 2-pin regular power source!

Not sure but my knowledge tells me that when u plug USB cable to poweradapter it just becomes regular charger and phone knows this by higher voltage coming to it...while USB plugged in to laptop or computer less voltage tells the phone and as well as the drivers from computer tells phone that's its USB cable link! Essentially cable is same but the.power adapter in front just converts USB to 2-pin regular power source!

Sent in 3D

I just did an experiment with my charger. I used the stock HTC charger that came with the phone. Plugged in my HTC provided cable, went to battery status, and it said "Charging (AC)".

I then tried another micro-USB cord I had laying around and again it said "Charging (AC)".

So my guess is the cord doesn't matter. What I'd like to see is if there is a difference in power that the cord is allowing to be pulled between the two. Anyone know an app for this?

Next I went and took the Griffin charger I bought for my iPad2. It is rated up to 2.1amps for output so it should be sufficient enough to charge our phones just like the stock charger. When I plugged it in using the stock HTC cable and the standard Micro-USB cable, both read: "Charging (USB)". Again, I wonder if there is a difference in power being drawn because it thinks it is USB.

The cord probably doesn't matter as long as it's a decent cord. I'm sure there's some POS cords that are not going to deliver much at all, but any USB cable I've bought from monoprice has charged just fine, and has done its full output either via a usb port or if I plug that cable into a usb->AC adapter.

The phone sets the charging rate based on if the data lines of the USB cable are active. If they are active, the charging rate is limited to the standard 500mA USB supply. If open, the phone goes into AC mode which allows up to 2A (2000mA) charging rate depending on the power supply.

I'm not entirely sure if MicroUSB is different than some of the other standards out there. But there are indeed some usb cables that are ''Data'' cables and do not charge. I have an old flip phone for my son and his usb data cable connects to the pc fine, we can transfer music to his microsd card etc. However it does not charge his phone at all.

XDA Developers was founded by developers, for developers. It is now a valuable resource for people who want to make the most of their mobile devices, from customizing the look and feel to adding new functionality.Are you a developer?